Eurail to increase prices of passes next year

If you plan to ride the rails in Europe in the next few months, you can save on the price of a youth rail pass if you buy it by Tuesday.

Eurail, which offers special passes for travelers younger than 26 on their first day of travel, will increase prices by 3% to 5% on Wednesday. Buy a pass now at 2002 rates and you’ll have six months from the date of purchase to begin using it.

Eurail Youth passes are popular because they allow flexibility on routes and plans. The passes are valid for unlimited second-class travel throughout 17 European countries.

Not all European trains have second-class service, so before you board, check that there’s a second class, especially on high-speed trains. If you travel on a train that doesn’t have second class, you’ll pay a penalty.

At 2002 rates, a 15-day pass costs $401; 21 days, $518; one month, $644; two months, $910; and three months, $1,126. An alternative is the Eurailpass Youth Flexi Pass, which is valid for any 10 days of travel within two months for $473, or any 15 days within two months for $622. Eurail Passes are also honored for a reduced fare and sometimes free travel on some shipping lines. For details, check the bonus section on the Rail Europe Internet site at www.raileurope.com.

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Missing Link Tours, a Las Vegas company that offers backpackers tours of the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas in 15-passenger minivans, has started a 12-hour Los Angeles-to-San Francisco transportation service that includes stops to enjoy coastal scenery. The fare is $69. Vans travel north on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and south on Wednesdays and Fridays. They take Highway 1 and stop in Santa Barbara and in Montana de Oro State Park, just south of Cambria, to view elephant seals. They then cut inland to travel up U.S. 101 to San Francisco.

An express shuttle, which makes the journey in seven hours with only one stop, goes north on Interstate 5 on Saturdays and south on Sundays. It costs $49. Departures are from Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Hollywood and Union Station.

For details, contact Missing Link, 9604 Pacific View Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89117; (800) 209-8586, www.tmltours.com.

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The French youth hostel association, Federation Unie des Auberges de Jeunesse, is offering inexpensive “City Break” packages in Paris and has started bus service to ski regions in the Alps.

Federation packages include accommodations in hostels (with six to 10 beds per room) in the Cite des Sciences, D’Artagnan and Leo Lagrange (Clichy) youth hostels; breakfasts; a travel pass that can be used on the subway, buses and regional trains; a card for free admission to the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay and other monuments and museums for three days; and a Seine River cruise.

Two nights’ lodging with a three-day transportation pass costs $121; three nights and a three-day pass, $142; four nights and a five-day pass, $173.

You must reserve the package at least two weeks ahead. Contact the national office of the Federation Unie des Auberges de Jeunesse, 9 Rue de Brantome, 75003 Paris; www.fuaj.org.

The federation recently introduced a ski bus that travels once a week between London, Brussels and Paris and federation hostels in the French Alpine towns of Autrans, Tignes, Seez, Les Deux Alpes and Serre Chevalier. The price from Paris to the resorts is $91. It also has ski and snowboard packages in Annecy, Aix les Bains and Chamonix, among other places.

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance writer and author of “Izon’s Backpacker Journal.” Contact her through her Web site, www.izon.com.